Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>The posterior cerebellum has been established as a key brain region within discussions of social and affective cognition, yet it has only incidentally been investigated in aesthetic experiences. For the first time, we directly assess the posterior cerebellum's functional contribution to art viewing, specifically in regard to the social emotion of 'feeling moved'. Participants (N = 48) underwent either anodal or cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right posterior cerebellum and then indicated how much they felt moved by visual artworks. We also considered individual trait empathy and previous art experience. No main effects of real tDCS were found. However, following real anodal (versus sham) tDCS, individuals with low art experience, alongside low to medium trait empathy, reported feeling more moved by artworks, while those with high art experience felt less moved. We suggest that real anodal tDCS over the posterior cerebellum may have modulated task-respective (i.e., default mode) neural networks by impacting routes of art experience and empathy for aesthetic engagement. Future research may expand on these initial, exploratory findings to elucidate the social, cognitive, and emotional faculties common across aesthetic experience and the cerebellum.</p>